Tag Archives: Cherry Creek Dam

Regarding danger of Cherry Creek flooding and/or dam failing

Dear Friends of Denver Parks,

Attached is the 2016 report of Paul Hindman, Executive Director of Denver Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, regarding the possibility of Cherry Creek Flooding and/or the dam failing in the event of a severe thunderstorm.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District will hold a public meeting
on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 from 6-8pm to gather input on modifying the
Cherry Creek Dam Water Control Plan to release more water from the dam
during extreme flooding events. The meeting will be held at the King Center
Recital Hall on the Auraria Campus, 855 Lawrence Way, Denver, Colorado.
Vouchers will be provided for free parking in the 7th Street Parking Garage
located next to the King Center. The Tivoli Parking Garage will also be
available as free overflow parking
(http://www.ahec.edu/files/general/Parking-Map.pdf).

There will be a brief presentation at 6:30pm followed by a question and
answer session and an open house. During the open house, you will have an
opportunity to talk with Corps team members about the proposed Water Control
Plan modifications and provide your input on potential impacts. You will
also be able to speak with officials from the Denver Office of Emergency
Management Homeland Security to learn more about that agency’s mission to
protect public safety and find out more information about how to develop a
personal action plan in the event of an emergency.

Input on the proposed Cherry Creek Water Control Plan modifications may be
submitted at the public meeting, emailed to kathryn.j.seefus@usace.army.mil
or mailed to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District; CENWO-ED-HA;
ATTN: Katie Seefus; 1616 Capitol Avenue; Omaha, NE 68102-4901. Comments on the study must be postmarked or received by February 26, 2016.

Attorney and parks advocates press case at Court of Appeals to overturn land swap involving Hampden Heights Open Space

By Jon Murray
The Denver Post

Two years after the Denver City Council cleared the way for a controversial land swap, children filed last month into a new elementary school built on former city-owned open space near Cherry Creek Reservoir.

But the Joe Shoemaker School’s opening hasn’t ended a legal fight by still-simmering Denver parks advocates over what they saw as an illegal giveaway of valuable park land, a charge disputed by city officials.

Dozens of the lawsuit’s supporters packed a Colorado Court of Appeals courtroom this month as their lawyer, who is appealing an earlier loss in Denver District Court, again pressed to return the land to city ownership.

That prospect has been complicated, of course, by Denver Public Schools’ construction of the building on the 11½-acre city parcel on Havana Street, which was swapped by the city for a central Denver former DPS administration building that soon will become a domestic violence resource center.

The opponents admit that if they prevail, their best-case scenario would be to win a court order for the land to be returned as city park land — but only decades from now, once the new school has outlived its usefulness.

Attorney John Case, who lives nearby, and other park advocates say they’re still fighting to protect more than just one park.